Storms and Heat Eastern NSW 1st December 2012

It is absolutely steamy at the moment! Hot with temperatures already into the 30's and dew points in the 20's. According to the GFS model, ti will get hot but a boundary will exist in the Sydney basin. If dew points can maintain aloft allowing for relatively rich moisture, storms will develop again this afternoon. Upper levels are passed the ridge from about Sydney and south so destabilisation is starting to occur. Should be some lightning active storms again this afternoon.

We have just had one of the most severe and lightning active storms since moving to Port Stephens two years ago. I have witnessed a number of strobing lightning strikes indicating the storm has tapped into a very moist layer with plenty of CAPE to power it along. The lightning flash rate was at least a couple every second. The rain was also torrential and led to all of our gutters overflowing and complete submersion of our back paved area for only the second time since living here. There was also some hail, but unfortunately I couldn’t get to see how large. It was making a lot of noise on our fiberglass deck roofing. Our poor pet dog Bonnie was absolutely terrified as she came running out of the garage and through the hail and flooding rain. I have never heard an animal so terrified in my life :-( We dried her off inside and calmed the poor girl down.